Close
by Draco the Spirit Dragon
Summary: Ichigo and Rukia are prety close. But when Rukia wakes Ichigo in the middle of the night to talk, Ichigo hears things come from Rukia's mouth that he never would expect to...


Close

It was hardly the first time Ichigo had been rudely awoken by Rukia in the middle of the night, but last time she had been a lot less subtle about it.

"Ichigo" Rukia spoke softly again and again as she kept tapping Ichigo on the chest as he came too.

"Midget." Ichigo said with an annoyed air as he opened his eyes. "You better have a good reason to wake me."

"I need to talk with you." Rukia simply replied, but her voice seemed a little down from her normal tones. A quick glance at his bedside clock told him it was three twenty three in the morning. Ichigo wouldn't claim to be super empathetic, but he suspect that this wasn't going to be about Shinigami related matter but about something far more personal.

Ichigo turned his head softly to face her. It wasn't hard to know where she was even in the pitch darkness. He simply positioned himself to face the gentle and constant flow of Reiatsu that felt like Rukia. It was hard to describe how it felt exactly, but Ichigo thought it felt like snowflakes, the blade of a sword and fluffy bunnies all at the same time, despite those feelings being somewhat contradictory…. but feeling Reiatsu wasn't like other senses.

"What this about Rukia?" Ichigo asked in a softer tone than previously. Groggy as he was, he knew as of this moment, Rukia needed him to at his most sensitive and least argumentative. "Something on your mind?"

"I've not been able to sleep Ichigo." Rukia explained in a subdued tone. "I went to bed at ten like the twins, but ever since I went to bed I've been thinking about things you should know about me but don't. Will you come with me and talk with me somewhere quiet Ichigo?"

Things he should know about her but didn't? Ichigo found him wondering what possibly she could be hiding from him that she considered something he should know. Some strange medical condition or family curse? Some connection with someone or something he might disapprove or be shocked by? Course Ichigo didn't voice those questions, instead he simply replied…..

"Sure."

Ichigo had known for a while that Rukia seemed to enjoy heights. It was most likely because she was so dam short and seeing things from any height above five foot was pretty exciting for her. Needless to say the fact she wanted to talk privately with Ichigo from the top of the tallest building in town was somewhat predictable of her.

The moonlight shined on Rukia's serous and glum face. Her hair was a fair bit more messy than usual and her eyes had that tired look that only came when you wanted to sleep but couldn't.

"So…" Ichigo said softly into the silence. "What is it that you wish to talk about?"

She didn't reply straight away, instead she stared at the town below, and it was somewhat unnerving compared to her normal self.

"You trust me a lot." Rukia finally spoke as she continued to stare. "I suspect that you be happy to follow me to hell and back if I wanted you to or not. I suspect you fight for my cause even if wasn't a terrible just one and I know deep within my heart if that even if I did terrible and foolish things… you would still rather die in my place than let me come to harm."

Ichigo blinked.

"Rukia you aren't a villain!" Ichigo shouted out in a mix of shock and anger. "Your one of the most noble and caring people I know!"

"How can you be so sure Ichigo!" Rukia screamed as she turned to face Ichigo, her own feature now alive with rage. "You're but a human boy who's known me a matter of months. I am a Shinigami who age in ten times your own and who you must have gathered by now is also quiet skilled at acting. So why do you feel so god dam confident about trusting me Kurosaki Ichigo? How can you be so certain that I'm not just playing you like a puppet for my own gain?"

"Because you've risked your life for mine many a time already Kuchiki Rukia." Ichigo quickly replied. "If you're playing some cunning strategy to use me towards unjust ends Rukia, then you're playing a risky one. You –must- know by now that I'm both hard to kill and owner of a strong personal moral compass. If I thought you were falling from grace Rukia, I wouldn't rest until you were back on the right path!"

Rukia angry face softened to a smiling one. It was a proud smile.

"I had to test you." Rukia said softly. "I had to challenge your view of me Ichigo and hear your answers"

"Why?" Ichigo asked in curiosity. Why was Rukia testing his perception of her for?

"Will you sit with me Ichigo?" Rukia asked in neutral tone, avoiding the question as she sat down cross-legged facing Ichigo. "There more things on my mind that I need to talk of."

Ichigo sighed but obeyed

"You're acting weird tonight Rukia." Ichigo spoke firmly. "What is all this about Rukia?"

"We are close are we not Ichigo?" Rukia replied.

"I think that's pretty obvious Rukia" Ichigo quickly replied. "After all we been through, it be pretty hard not to be close wouldn't it?"

"But don't you think were closer than most people would be if they went through the same thing?" Rukia spoke a little too quickly, her eyes on Ichigo and clearly waiting on his next words a little bit too eagerly.

Ichigo closed his eyes and sighed more deeply this time. He was clearly missing an important fact somewhere in all of this. Still he had to admit that Rukia words did have something in them.

"Yes." Ichigo replied before adding. "We are closer than most people would be if they gone through something similar."

"Like we met before?" Rukia added. Suddenly it clicked in Ichigo's head.

"You used a Kikanshinki on me didn't you?" Ichigo asked in an accusing tone. "You did something to me before the night I became Shinigami and are really ashamed of it. "

"That's not it Ichigo!" Rukia replied defensively. But Ichigo wasn't convinced.

"You're the type of person who way to deal with guilt is self sacrifice Rukia." Ichigo explained. "I had plenty of time to think about that night Rukia and the idea of you giving me your Shinigami powers to make up for some past mistake is so you."

Rukia bit her lip and looked down at the floor.

"You're very right and very wrong at the same time, you know that?" Rukia said softly. "But you're completely wrong about a Kikanshinki being involved."

Ichigo stared at her. This was getting more complicated by a minute.

"Ichigo..." Rukia said somewhat awkwardly. "I wanted to repay an old friend."

Ichigo looked at her strangely.

"I know that doesn't sound like it has much to do with you." Rukia went on. "But he was so –like- you and I guess there was part of me that wanted him…"

"To come back?" Ichigo finished. Rukia nodded.

"Imagine if you saw a woman who looked and acted so like your mother Ichigo." Rukia explained. "What if you felt that perhaps that person was in some crazy way connected with your mother somehow, how would you react?"

It was Ichigo turn to bite his lip; it was turning into a very awkward as well as complicated conversation.

"I would want to find out more about that person." Ichigo replied honestly. "I would be very curious and probably very helpful towards them too."

"What if you found yourself stuck with them for an extended period and cut off from everyone you knew?" Rukia went on further as Ichigo felt his stomach tighten.

"You should have told me this sooner Rukia. " Ichigo said with a sigh. "I must have freaked you out a fair bit without even realising."

"There always seemed more important things going off." Rukia said with a guilty look. "And there never seemed the right moment to tell you."

_More important than your confused feelings? _Ichigo quietly thought.

"So this old friend of yours." Ichigo asked in a deliberately sensitive tone. "Could you tell me about him?"

Again Rukia looked less than comfortable. She crossed her arms and held her elbows as she hunched up her shoulders somewhat.

"His name was Shiba Kaien and he was the Thirteenth Divisions last Vice-captain" Rukia said in a brave tone that Ichigo was sure was hiding a lot of fear. "He was a brave and kind man who looked after every member of his division. No matter whom you were and what anyone else thought of you, he would rather fight and die that let a member of his division down Ichigo."

Rukia facade of courage was leaving her more and more with every word. Ichigo could see her falling to pieces before his very eyes.

"He put kindness first, heart first." A tearful Rukia explained. "And he was the spitting image of you in appearance… but his hair was black."

Ichigo digested her words. Words like kind and brave were words that Ichigo was pretty sure were words Rukia associated with him too, and knowing that the two of them looked so alike….

"Do you think I'm Shiba Kaien Rukia?" Ichigo asked bluntly, startling Rukia in the process.

"I… I.." Rukia stammered before taking a deep gulp and looking down at the floor before returning her gaze to Ichigo and replying more calmly, through still clearly strained. "I don't think your Shiba Kaien Ichigo, but I don't think it purely coincidence that I have a chance to help a man who so alike to one who helped me either. Don't ask me to explain why, because I don't understand why, but I know it's more than a borrowing of powers that binds my soul to yours, my path to yours. Being with you Ichigo is like coming home to place I've been before… I just wished I understood why."

"You feel our meeting was fated?" Ichigo asked. Rukia nodded rapidly in return. "Well that is a feeling that's mutual Rukia." Ichigo replied without thinking.

A soft smile creped up upon Rukia's face, the fear was still there, but she had clearly taken heart from Ichigo quick reply to her admittance.

"We are close." Rukia stated while staring into Ichigo's eyes. "Such a brief time we've know each other, but it always feels so much longer."

Ichigo nodded softly. Rukia eyes weren't moving from his. It was a bit unsettling, but Ichigo was close enough to Rukia to tolerate this odd night of a very weird Rukia.

Rukia looked down at the floor again and her smile faded to worry. Ichigo readied himself for another bombshell.

"Ichigo." Rukia asked in tone that suggested she wanted his full attention. "What will things between us like be in a year's time?"

"About the same as now I'm guessing." Ichigo said with a slight shrug. "Unless you're planning to change things?"

She didn't reply to his question.

"What about in five years?" Rukia asked with her full focus on him.

"Well I be able to focus a lot more on Shinigami related matters with my education being well and truly finished, so I guess I be staying into the Soul Society a lot more. Heck I suspect in your home"

Rukia nodded.

"What about fifty years Ichigo?" Rukia said with that very serous look on her face. What would things be like between them when Ichigo was sixty six? That was one of those questions that was designed to lead to another, in this case it was what would Ichigo be like when he reached the age most people considered retired? Just how much of a Shinigami nature had he picked up when it came to aging? If he aged like a human he be going grey and bald by that point as his years started to pile up. If he aged like a Shinigami he look pretty much exactly the same as he was now, which would causes issue for him around other people that knew him for a long time…. like employers, friends and family.

"And further along, what about in a centuries time Ichigo?" Rukia asked as she continued her stare.

"It far from clear isn't it?" Ichigo finally replied. "There not really been anyone like me before to uses as a reference… which means things are pretty uncertain and certainly going to get more complex as time goes by."

Rukia nodded with a deliberately neutral look on her face again.

"Shinigami are normally forbidden from having long term contact with mortals." Rukia explained. "Were not supposed to make friends, let alone anything more serous. When I first read about it at the academy, I thought it was draconic, but now I can see why it was that way for."

"Because one way or another." Ichigo said with a sigh as he thought of Yuzu and Karin. "One of us going to see someone precious to us age and die."

Once more Rukia nodded, a mask of neutrality on her face.

"Then there's the matter of time…" Rukia said with closed eyes. "Even in the best case scenario in whitch you're a true Shinigami in every sense or your death isn't the end of us. You still -think- human. You still -act- human and you treat time –like- a human."

She looked pained as she said those final words. Ichigo didn't know how to reply.

"And because all that." Rukia said as she open eyes that tears where starting to flow. "I know this relationship going to develop so fast and out of my control…."

Ichigo blinked as Rukia stopped talking and went very red as she suddenly stood up. She had just said relationship to describe how things were between them!

"I. erm…" Rukia stammered out. As the shock left Ichigo system, the whole night suddenly made a hell of a lot more sense.

"All of this has been lead up hasn't it Rukia?" Ichigo asked the blushing Shinigami as he carefully stood up. "You been deliberately getting lots of things out of the way that could be problems latter as well as explaining all the barriers."

She softly and very nervously nodded.

"You must think I'm being really m…" Rukia began, but Ichigo had no intention of letting her finish. So he put his finger to her lips.

"Oh you're that all right. " Ichigo said with a grin to an increasingly redder Rukia as softly walked even closer towards her. "Your one sneaky bunny Rukia, but your also a very compassionate bunny."

A smile was growing on Rukia embarrassed face; she liked being referred to as a bunny.

"You're kind of like that Dumbledore from Harry Potter you know." Ichigo said as he laid one of his hands softly on her head. "Through much much cuter."

"And I guess I can't think of my life without you in it now." Ichigo said softly as his hand drifted softly down her head till it found her ear. "You've got me good and if you want to take this close friendship further…"

He let the words hang; it was her choice if she was willing to go down what was certainly going to a very bumpy road.

"Even through you know how uncertain our future going to be?" Rukia said softly as her cool and surprisingly soft hands wrapped around his waist.

"I rather take uncertainty of a future with you than the certainty of how miserable I would be without you Rukia." Ichigo explained as he softly tickled Rukia's ear, a small sigh escaped her lips.

"Well I guess that's that." Rukia said softly as she pressed herself gently against Ichigo's chest. "Just promise me one thing Ichigo."

He stared down into her beautiful eyes.

"Let's not rush this ok?" Rukia said softly as she stared into his. "I don't want to lose control."

Ichigo stared down at the girl who last time he checked was over a century and half in age, technically dead and a member of a very high ranking family. The girl who had fought besides him many a time and gave him the strength to fight in the first place.

"I promise Rukia." Ichigo said as he softly kissed her on her check.

It wasn't a hard promise to make for someone as close to him as Rukia.


End file.
